The trio started their shopping experience at Target Thursday evening well before the rest of the mall's midnight opening, then returned to the mall Friday at 6:30 a.m.

"I wish they were open the night before so I wouldn't have to come back up, but what are you going to do," Gregory said.

Caitlyn Racette of Lowell was one of the first in line outside Old Navy in Nashua at 8 p.m. and was joined by her mother, Tracey Newell, of Lowell, and aunt Judy Newell, of Dracut, an hour later.

"Oh my God, horrendous," Racette said of the lines that formed before the store opened. "Around the building; over an hour just for the register."

They made it to the mall about 2 a.m. and stood outside Kids Foot Locker for about two hours waiting for Michael Jordan sneakers to go on sale at 8 a.m.

The biggest lines were at Abercrombie & Fitch and Victoria's Secret, Racette and Newell said.

Susan Kaempf, of Hudson, N.H., was with her daughter, Dominique, and four of her Alvirne High School friends when they arrived at the mall about 3:45 a.m.

Shoppers around her were making it a good experience, she said.

"Whatever looks good is what I get," Kaempf said.

Capone and Novotny, and Steenbeke, were relatively late arrivals, not arriving at the mall until about 6 a.m.

"My strategy is not to have a strategy because it's too stressful," Capone said.

They still managed to pick up some good deals, Novotny said.

She picked up the last set of Dr. Dre headphones at Target for $89.

Barbara Snow of Chelmsford was shopping with her daughter, Sarah, who attends Westfield State University and got to the mall about 6:30 a.m.

"We had turkey coma, so we decided to start late," Snow said.

They planned to stay until about noon.

"I have to spend what I would have earned if I didn't take the day off," she said.

A group of Milton, Vt., women made their annual trek to the Pheasant Lane Mall on a weekend outing.

Jean Hudson, Paulette Lafond, Loretta Devino and Darlene Stevens, running on just two hours of sleep, were dressed in scarves and matching T-shirts emblazoned with "Black Friday Professional Shopping Team."

They started their Christmas shopping at Target at 10 p.m. Thursday and got back to their hotel room at 1 a.m. so they could nap before more shopping.

They have been making the trip about 22 years, and now that their children are grown, it is just the quartet.

"We're so used to the friendship thing, it makes it worth it even though we spend so much time in lines," Devino said.

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